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30 December 2008

Yesterday, I wrote about Gaggenau's Vario modular cooktop system and their cool downdraft options. Well, my pals at Gaggenau do some really cool things with wall ovens too.

Wall ovens are pretty cut and dry things, most of them work pretty much the same way and they look pretty similar, regardless of the brand. That is, except for the wall ovens offered by Gaggenau.

Here's a 24-inch wide single oven with steam and convection. Now a 30-inch is the typical size for an American wall oven, and Gaggenau has several models in that size. What's important here though is the position of that handle. Pretty much all ovens have bottom hinges and a door that drops down as it opens. That's probably a throwback to the days of wood-burning stoves, but it doesn't make much sense in 2008. It's pretty much how people expect an oven door to open despite the fact that it's pretty inefficient for them to do so, but a lot of times tradition trumps efficiency. This inefficiency is particularly noticeable in a wall oven.

Think about it, retrieving anything from the oven involves reaching out over a really hot piece of metal. Then, in order to pick something up, you have to do it while your arms are fully extended and at their weakest. Now imagine what it would be like to have an option.

Well, you do. Check out the location of the handle on that single wall oven up there. The handle's on the left side of the appliance and that makes it a right-hinged wall oven. If you were to stand in front of that wall oven and pull something out of it, you wouldn't be reaching or extending and to me, that makes an amazing amount of sense.

Here's the same idea in a double:

In this appliance, the handle's on the left, making this one right-hinged as well. In appliance land, we refer to the side the hinges are on as the identifier, not the side the handle's on. That sounds pretty inconsequential until you go to order one of these things. It's the kind of expensive mistake that keeps me awake at night. But anyhow, what's cool about Gaggenau's built-in ovens is that you can specify the hinge location when you order one. Pretty cool and so far as I know they are the only manufacturer in town with a right- or left-hinge oven door.